The outpouring of support for my candidacy for Oakland City Council has been nothing short of amazing. From old childhood friends to the Mayor, current District 4 Councilwoman and firefighters, and the countless union members and neighbors with whom I have spent time—your vote of confidence in me has been incredibly uplifting and inspiring.

Today I want to share something personal. For the past few years, Sam and I have been trying to conceive a second child. We’ve wanted nothing more than to give our son, Elijah, a lifelong friend and companion. Just as we lost hope, a miracle was delivered: recently, we learned that Sam is pregnant! We are absolutely thrilled about meeting the newest member of our family early next year.

This news, while amazing, forced Sam and me to do some soul searching and discuss whether it was in the best interest of our now-growing family to continue on the campaign trail. We decided that it was not. That’s why I’m writing to let you know that I am suspending my campaign for Oakland City Council.

I want to be clear: my desire to serve and improve our community has not changed. But it would not be fair to my family if I were absent during Sam’s pregnancy or unable to devote my attention to her and Elijah. While there will be other campaigns in the future—and I am confident that there will long be a need for each of us to do what’s right for our City—this moment is unique for my family. Family first, straight up.

I’ll be reaching out to many of you in the coming weeks to express my gratitude for your love and support.

Peace & Love,

Chris

OaklandNews Now Note: this post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest version of an experimental mobile media video-blogging system network that’s part of Zennie62Media. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 onYouTube channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the OaklandNews Now site. The objective is real-time on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network and also seek interested content and media technology partners.